'Attese' e strategie metrico-stilistiche nei recitativi di Metastasio

Focusing on the hendecasyllable in Metastasio’s recitatives, the article aims at reflecting on the relationship between music and poetry in the metastasian conception of melodrama. When composing librettos and scores, poets and composers could be influenced by mutual expectations; some quotations from Metastasio himself show that he was fully aware of the musicians’ demands and techniques. Moreover, data collected from the first act of six librettos suggest that Metastasio took these demands into account and also developed some strategies to encourage the cooperation with the composers and an ideal synthesis of music and poetry.